Editing Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin (section)

===Flooding and Relocation===
In its early years, Soldiers Grove depended upon the Kickapoo River for [[timber rafting]] and [[hydropower]] for flour and lumber mills. The village's proximity to the river became a liability in the early twentieth century, however, when major [[flood]]s began to afflict the settlement. Significant flooding occurred in 1907, 1912, 1917, and 1935. Following the last of these incidents, Soldiers Grove and other area communities petitioned the [[United States Congress]] to provide funds for a flood control project.

Despite another major flood in 1951, Congress did not agree to a flood control plan until 1962, when it authorized a project that included [[levee]]s and a flood control dam on the Kickapoo River upstream of Soldiers Grove near [[La Farge, Wisconsin]]. Owing largely to environmental concerns, however, construction of the proposed dam was halted partway through construction in 1975 and never finished. In the meantime, a 1974 floodplain zoning ordinance had already taken effect in Soldiers Grove, prohibiting new construction and severely limiting maintenance options near the river and crippling the village's downtown area. Although a levee proposed by the U.S. Corps of Engineers in 1975 would have lessened the restrictions, the village rejected the plan because of costs. While the downtown property was worth approximately $1 million, a levee to protect it would have required $3.5 million to construct and an additional $10,000 a year afterward for annual maintenance.

Rather than building and maintaining a levee, village leaders proposed that the federal funds already appropriated for levee construction be used instead to relocate the business district away from the floodplain. Federal agencies repeatedly denied this request, however. Even so, in 1977 the village used its own funds to purchase land on nearby high ground onto which the business district could be relocated.

In 1978, flooding again inundated the Soldiers Grove area. In the aftermath of the disaster, $900,000 in federal funds were finally provided to [[Managed retreat|assist in relocating]] the village's business district to higher ground. Construction of the new business district began in 1979 and was completed by 1983. A park replaced the old downtown area along the river. Although major flooding occurred along the Kickapoo River again in [[2007 Midwest flooding|2007]] and [[June 2008 Midwest floods|2008]], the village escaped major damage by virtue of the relocation.<ref>{{cite news |last = Hubbuch |first = Chris |title = Soldiers Grove: Relocated town spared heavy flood damage; former site inundated |work = La Crosse Tribune |date = June 22, 2008 | url = http://lacrossetribune.com/news/soldiers-grove-relocated-town-spared-heavy-flood-damage-former-site/article_338f2216-e998-58b9-babe-028f33b7e5ab.html | access-date = October 9, 2013 }}</ref>